Sierra Leone

Rebel action on the Kamakwie Road 1996–2001

Kamakwie is a large village in north-central Sierra Leone about twenty-five miles from the Guinean border where I lived from 1987-1990. This page is a compilation of news reports on rebel activity along the Kamakwie-Makeni road. Articles reproduced here are intended for educational, non-commercial use only. Copyrights are held by the authors.

March 1996: Massive turn out at the polls

Meanwhile atrocities by rebels or sobels were being committed all over the
country in an effort by these armed men to disrupt the elections and derail
the democratic process. Attacks resulting in killings, chopping of limbs, fingers,
hands, ears, noses and heads in addition to the destruction of property were
reported all over the country as the nation prepared for elections. These attacks
took place in the eastern, southern and northern provinces. For the first
time Gbendembu, Kamakwie, Tonko Limba Mala near Makeni, Rokulan and Rokupr were
attacked. In Rokupr, the Imam of the El-ul-Fitri congregational prayers ending
the Ramadan fasting was killed along with other worshipers. All in the name
of disrupting the elections. But this even hardened Sierra Leoneans' resolve
for democratic elections.

June 1996: Rokel Leaf shut down

Rokel Leaf shut downSierra Leone ProgressJune 1996: 2

The once economically viable Rokel Leaf Company, a subsidiary of the cigarette
manufacturers, Aureol Tobacco Company, ATC, folded last month after almost
40 years of operation in the northern province of Sierra Leone. According to
THE NEW CITIZEN newspaper the folding up of Rokel Leaf was due to downsizing
of the ATC work force from 400 to a mere 80. Rokel Leaf had specialized in
growing and providing tobacco from local labor to the ATC for the manufacture
of cigarettes. ATC's parent company is the British American Tobacco, BAT.

May 1997: VOA broadcast

Intro: Relief workers are expressing concern about the plight of refugees
in Sierra Leone caught up in renewed fighting in the West African state. The
US committee for refugees voiced its alarm after new clashes between government
and rebel troops threatened to undo a fragile peace that has been holding in
Sierra Leone since November. VOA's Maxim Kniazkov has details.

Text: US humanitarian workers say they are alarmed by a new wave of violence
that swept northern Sierra Leone last week.

A policy analyst with the US committee for refugees, Tom Argent, told VOA
attacks on villages, believed to have been carried out by anti-government rebels,
left a gruesome scene.

Several villages near Makeni, one village in particular, Kalangba,
had been attacked, and the army had found at least nine bodies. Close to
90 houses had been burned down, that scores of people had their arms or legs
amputated apparently in attacks by the revolutionary united front.

The US committee for refugees also reports clashes between the government
and the opposition Kamajoh militia in the east of Sierra Leone. The committee
says that violence claimed 50 lives last week in the town of Kenema.

Mr. Argent says the new fighting deals a heavy blow to a November peace accord
that was supposed to end Sierra Leone's six-years of civil war. Mr. Argent
says it also puts on hold hopes of about 850-thousand refugees and displaced
Sierra Leoneans to return home.

Nearly half-a-million internally displaced Sierra Leoneans were not yet
able to return home because their home areas remained insecure. Additionally,
an estimated 350-thousand Sierra Leonean refugees are living in neighboring
countries — in guinea and Liberia. And, overwhelmingly, those Sierra Leonean
refugees have not yet been able to return home in large part because of the
continuing insecurity.

Mr. Argent says a refugee resettlement program implemented with international
help since the November signing of the peace accord is in danger, particularly
in eastern Sierra Leone.

The insecurity has prompted aid agencies, including the UN high commissioner
for refugees to withdraw their personnel from the area, meaning that displaced
persons and refugees, who already have returned, are no longer receiving
assistance from these humanitarian agencies.

The US committee for refugees urges international relief agencies to suspend
large-scale repatriation of Sierra Leonean refugees until violence subsides.
It also recommends increasing aid to Sierra Leoneans, who sought refuge in
neighboring countries.

May 1997: RUF attacks Leave 40 dead; Rebels capture town

This report is provided by the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC),
in cooperation with the US State Department. The services of various private
news agencies, as well as other government sources are utilized. Owens OnLine
distributes this report as a convenience to its members and is not responsible
for content.

Date: 14 May 1997Freetown

Reuters reports that rebels from the united revolutionary front (RUF) have
captured the town of Kamakwie, 90 miles from Freetown, after seven
hours of heavy fighting. Casualty figures were not available, but it is reported
that many bodies were left lying in the streets. A peace accord was signed
between the RUF and the government in November, designed to end the war which
erupted in 1991.

Date: 16 May 1997Freetown

Paris AFP reports that attacks by the revolutionary united front have left
at least 40 people dead this week. Ten people were reportedly killed in the
northern town of Kamakwie, while earlier attacks in Bomaru left 30
others dead. In Bomaru, of the 30 injured civilians, most suffered from blunt
wounds from machetes and other crude weapons. Refugees arriving in guinea
said that several dozen civilians, mostly women and children, were massacred
in northern Sierra Leone amid clashes between government and rebel forces.

Our Wesleyan Mission Hospital at Kamakwie was looted two days ago by
the rebels along with the Pharmacy and the Dispensary. Everything was taken
and the mission homes were burned. Sixty houses in the town have been burned
and six people killed. The rebels came two days ago and are still there. There
are 8,000 refugees in Makeni at the Wesleyan Conference center. The
US Wesleyan Church has sent $5,000 out to provide food and medical supplies
for the people in Makeni. The Kamakwie hospital was very well
known all over West Africa.

A few days ago they burned the town of Pbendembu [Gbendembu] where
I lived and destroyed the town and all but two of the mission buildings. Several
people were killed and some were taken by the rebels, God knows where. This
is the third town they have hit in a week. Thought you would like to know.

I arrived home, back in South Africa, Saturday night, having left Freetown,
Sierra Leone Friday afternoon. What an emotional week I had!

When I landed at Lungi (the airport in Freetown) I found that rebels had
attacked Gbendembu that day. There was no news as to the damage. The
next morning we learned that Gbendembu had virtually been destroyed.
It was reported that only about six houses were left standing, over 130 houses
destroyed, including our mission homes. Providentially, the new Bible School
buildings were only looted. Our clinic was also burned.

Then Monday night the rebels attacked Kamakwie, and the military,
sent to provide security for the town, ran in full retreat. Much damage was
done to the town, but it was not totally destroyed. Approximately 60 houses
were burned. Our hospital was heavily damaged and looted, but the mission
homes were spared.

By the time of my departure Friday afternoon the whereabouts of the rebels
was unknown. Rumors abounded, but only the Lord knows where they are. The
entire Northern Province is in a panic. Many towns and villages are
empty as the people have gone into the bush.

It was reported that the band of rebels that are marauding the North number
about 400, mostly teenagers, but heavily armed. Who these rebels are, what
there motivation is, and where do they get their arms are questions that
everyone is asking, but no one seems to have the answers. And there are rebel
attacks also in the Southern and Eastern provinces. It was reported last
week that about 60 people were killed in the town of Kailahun in the far
east of S.L. The brutality of the rebels seizes people with fear. They rape
and kill, and they cut off hands, fingers, feet, etc. The devil is loose
in Africa — and he is no friend of mankind, but uses men to kill and mutilate
fellow humans.

Rebel activity as reported and shown on CNN usually does not affect us very
much. But it tears something up inside when rebels attack people you know,
dear friends and people with names and faces you recognize. When the homes
you've lived in are destroyed, it brings war pretty close to home.

We thank the Lord that the radio transceivers we left in Sierra Leone when
all of us as Wesleyan missionaries left in January 1995 are still working.
They were a godsend during these days. We had more accurate and up-to-date
information regarding what was happening in the Northern Province than
any of the local news media in Freetown, or the BBC.

Things look grim for Sierra Leone. The civilian government elected just
over a year ago is weak and lacks the support of the military and the people.
Things are ripe for a coup. We can only cry, — and pray.

I keep in touch with our people in Freetown and will let you know of any
further developments.

May 1997: Refugees to cross into Guinea

GenevaThe resumption of fighting in Sierra Leone has caused at least 6,000 refugees
to cross into Guinea, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), which said May 23 that it is temporarily suspending all repatriation
efforts to Sierra Leone. UNHCR said the new influx of refugees to Guinea
began last week, and appears to be associated with the fall of the town of Kamakwie to
the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Guinea hosts 250,000 Sierra Leonean
refugees out of a total of 380,000 who fled their country between 1991 and
1996. The remaining Sierra Leonean refugees are in Liberia (120,000) and
The Gambia (4,000). UNHCR began repatriating refugees to Sierra Leone on
a small scale in February 1997 and had hoped to begin a large-scale repatriation
later in the year. "We have suspended all repatriation movements to
Sierra Leone for the time being," said UNHCR spokeswoman Pam O'Toole.

Date unknown: Reuters

[Sorry, but I lost the details on this report. I assume it's from May 1997.]

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Sierra Leonean rebels have captured the northern town of Kamakwie after
heavy fighting which left many corpses in the streets, the army said Wednesday.
Army spokesman Col. Abdul Sesay said rebels of the Revolutionary United Front
(RUF) seized Kamakwie, 90 miles from the capital, Freetown, after seven
hours of fighting Tuesday. "Government soldiers fought bravely to stop
the rebels taking the town, but the rebels attacked in large numbers and they
were also heavily armed," Sesay told Reuters. He said corpses were left
lying in the town but that casualty figures were unavailable for either side.
Church sources who fled to the northern regional capital Makeni, 55
miles from Kamakwie, reported that many people were killed in the fighting. "I
ran past 18 bodies as I escaped. Many of them were young boys, about 14 to
16 years old, carrying guns and machetes. But there were also the bodies of
soldiers and civilians," said one church source who asked not to be named.
Military sources say the army has been overstretched by more than 10 attacks
on northern towns and villages by RUF forces in the past week.

A peace accord signed between RUF leader Foday Sankoh and President Ahmad
Tejan Kabbah in November was designed to end the war which erupted in 1991
in the impoverished West African state. The accord has been put in doubt by
violent incidents not only by rebels but also by militias of local hunters,
who once fought alongside the army. The leadership of the RUF was thrown into
confusion in March when one faction, outside Sierra Leone, claimed to have
deposed Sankoh. But when officials of the group tried to return home they were
held by Sankoh loyalists in Sierra Leone. Sankoh is staying at a hotel in the
Nigerian capital Abuja, and it is unclear whether Nigeria's military authorities
will allow him to leave.

February 1998: Personal correspondence

You might be interested in this transmission which I received a day or so ago.

Don

News reports indicate the rebels, defeated and driven from Freetown, are
now on the rampage across the country with many of the towns and cities being
ravaged. We hear that Makeni and Magburaka are empty of people as
all have fled into the bush or to rural villages. Abu said there is no communication
of any kind with our Wesleyan headquarters in Makeni. Rumor has it
that Kamakwie was also attacked by rebels.

May 1998: Rebels attack cattle farmers in the north

FREETOWN, May 4 (IPS) - While the West African Peacekeeping Force (ECOMOG)
has managed to contain rebel attacks on villagers in eastern Sierra Leone,
cattle farmers in the northern part of the country have not been so lucky.

According to reports reaching the capital of Freetown, former troops of the
Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) in the north are stealing cattle
and harassing farmers in the area.

Most affected are towns and villages in the Bombali district, about 180 kilometres
from the capital, where armed remnants of the junta, which was deposed in February
by ECOMOG, are on the rampage. They are reported to be armed with AK-47 and
AK 58 rifles.

"In just over two weeks, I've lost to cattle rustlers 100 cattle and
two of my herdsmen, who were tortured and then shot dead," said Pa Wurie
Jalloh of Kamakwie, 250 kilometres from Freetown in the north.

Pa Jalloh adds that more than 2000 cattle have so far been either stolen or
shot indiscriminately around Bombali, while twice that number have reportedly
been taken by the marauding bandits in other northern towns and villages.

Since the junta was dislodged by ECOMOG in March from its northern headquarters
town of Makeni, hundreds of AFRC soldiers and their allies from the Revolutionary
United Front (RUF) have retreated to the villages with their weapons.

The retreating rebels have set up bases in Krubola and Bafodia communes in
the northern district of Koinadugu, which borders neighbouring Guinea.

ECOMOG is yet to be deployed in the northern areas, since it is still trying
to rout out the remnants of the junta in Sierra Leone's two major eastern districts,
Kono and Kailahun. This leaves a security vacuum in the north.

According to some ECOMOG officials, inadequate manpower is delaying their
overall deployment into outlying towns and villages in the country's interior.

"The bandits(rebels) often attack us in broad daylight with rifles, disposses
us of money and belongings and then go on a shooting spree of our cattle," said
Samba Iyne, a cattle farmer.

Foday Lahai Kamara, a cattle trader in Manjoro village, about 45 kilometres
from Makeni, told IPS that most of the cattle stolen from Bombali district
by the rebels are being re-sold in neighbouring districts.

"The cattle they steal in Bombali are sold in Koinadugu district, while
those stolen from Kono district are re-sold in Tonkolili district," Kamara
said.

When the local farmers and herdsmen put up resistance, they are allegedly
tortured, and some have been killed. Their cattle also have been shot in large
numbers.

Cattle-rearing is a big business in Sierra Leone's northern districts, which
supply beef to the rest of the country.

Alhaji Sallieu Shaw, who comes from Bafodia, said the cattle rustlers have
opened conduits on the border with Guinea and are engaged in a flourishing
business with Guineans.

"Sometimes they drive in big trucks with dozens of cattle across the
porous border into neighbouring Guinea where they sell their loot," he
said.

"You can't do anything. You just stand by and watch as they pack your
cattle in trucks and drive away, after discharging warning shots in the air," Shaw
added.

The Guinean authorities have not commented officially on the allegations of
cattle being traded across their border.

"Unless the authorities crackdown hard on poaching rebels, there will
be a scarcity of beef and a corresponding upsurge in prices," said farmer
Mammadu Bah.

June 1998: SLBS broadcast

Sierra Leone Broadcasting ServiceNational News Summary9 June 1998

Christian Assistance for Under Developed Societies Everywhere CAUSE, CANADA
has started humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people in Kamakwie,
Sella Limba Chiefdom, Bombali district in the north.

Speaking to the SLBS, the Programme Co-ordinator of CAUSE CANADA, Theresa
Benjamin said the three-month exercise was funded by the organisation, The
Bread for the World, Germany and drugs provided by the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF).

She said that the organisation would undertake the feeding of these malnourished
children and their mothers on a daily basis for the next three months in order
to improve their health.

Quite apart from that, she went on, dry ration would also be provided from
time to time to augment the feeding needs of these vulnerable women and their
children.

The Organisation also made similar donations at the Kamakwie Wesleyan Hospital where
amputees are currently admitted.

A vaccination exercise for malnourished children was also conducted in the
township and plastic sheetings were distributed to victims of fire disasters.
The next exercise is expected to take place in July this year.

September 1998: Personal correspondence

The news coming from Sierra Leone continues to be grim. RUF rebels continue
to cause death, destruction, and mayhem across a large portion of the Northern
Province of Sierra Leone where most of our Wesleyan churches are located.
In addition, there are reports of hundreds of deaths due to disease, malnutrition,
and starvation.

I spoke with Abu, our mission agent in Freetown, on the phone this morning.
The town of Kamalu, located just seven miles from our Wesleyan hospital
at Kamakwie was almost totally destroyed with over 60 people killed.
The village of Laia, 16 miles back in the bush from Kamalu,
and surrounding small villages were attacked and it is reported that 47 people
were killed. The rebels then went by bush paths south through Kagberi, Kortohun,
and down behind Kalangba (the names and locations are known to former
Sierra Leone missionaries). Wesleyan churches are located in many of the
towns and villages in this area. Many people throughout the area were killed.
Most of the people of this area are now scattered in the bush. Some people
escaped to Makeni and some made their way to Freetown. Abu said he
learned that two of his brothers were killed in his home village near Kagberi.
The town of Fadugu on the road to Kabala was completely destroyed, according
to reports. This was the second major attack by rebels on this town. The
paramount chief in Fadugu was killed, hacked to pieces, and burned. There
is no news of our pastor or Wesleyan people in Fadugu.

The ECOMOG forces (mostly Nigerian peace-keeping soldiers) in Makeni cannot
or will not venture into the bush to attempt an offensive against the rebels.
It is rainy season and many bush roads cannot be traveled with vehicles.
As well, ECOMOG gets little cooperation from the people because of the threats
of the rebels. Anyone suspected of aiding the government or ECOMOG is tortured
and killed. The city of Makeni continues to receive threats of rebel attack.

The capital city of Freetown remains relatively calm and secure. Abu said
the people are very confused, not knowing what will happen next. Continue
to pray for Sierra Leone. Pray for the safety and protection of the people.

November 1998: A year of atrocities against civilians

Amnesty InternationalSierra Leone 1998: A year of atrocities against civiliansAFR 51/22/98 (November 1998)amnesty.org

On 6 September 1998 the town of Kamalu, near Kamakwie, in Bombali District,
was attacked by rebel forces. At least 40 civilians, including children, were
reported to have been killed in the attack; others were seriously injured with
machete wounds. Some of those killed had been first been subjected to torture
and sexual abuse; others had been burned alive. A Paramount Chief, Samura Bangura,
was reported to have been abducted from Kamalu, together with some 50
others.

December 1998: Big massacre in Gbendembu

Big Massacre in GbendembuSierra Leone ProgressDecember
1998: 2

More than 100 civilians were massacred recently in the northern town of Gbendembu 17
miles from Makeni in the Bombali District by a 400-strong, armed rebel group.
Many people who had fled to a nearby bush were marched back to the town Wesleyan
Church where they were executed. Some were beheaded and others had their throats
cut. Among those executed were Mrs. Marie Fornah, wife of the pastor of the
church and the pastor's uncle.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone appealed to the conscience of
rebels at a peace forum Wednesday, as reports of a humanitarian disaster in
the north of the war-ravaged state reached the capital.

Hundreds of thousands civilians trapped in the northern provincial town of Kamakwie in
the Sella Limba Chiefdom were said to be facing one of the worst crises
since civil war broke out in 1991.

"More than 20 people die every day in Kamakwie (120 kilometers/75
miles north of Freetown) because of hunger, lack of medical attention and atrocities
caused by the rebels," said Amadu Kamara, who arrived in the capital on
Wednesday.

"Even the reserve foods that were left behind by non-governmental organisations
have been carted away by rebels in various attacks," Kamara said.

He said there were no drugs at the Kamakwie health centre and that
all health officials have fled the town.

"Many of the wounded and sick are being treated by native doctors," he
added.

Fighters of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) stand accused of waging a
terror campaign against civilians, looting villages and raping and mutilating
inhabitants.

The RUF invaded Freetown on January 6 and although its forces were chased
out two weeks later by Nigerian intervention troops, the rebels remain very
active in the interior.

Some 6,000 people were killed in the Freetown clashes.

April 1999: Kambia District fully in hands of rebels

[Details on the origin of this report were lost.]

The Ninjas

AFRC/RUF Forces under the leadership of Gibril Massaquoi are fully in control
of Kambia district once more. From Gbalamuya, the border customs post all the
way down to Batkanu and into Kamakwie are under the control of rebel forces.

The Guinean ECOMOG soldiers have withdrawn to Pamalap and to their own border
towns. The Guineans are only located in one district of Sierra Leone presently
and that is the Port Loko district.

Also, the Guineans have been "courteous" enough to allow traders
to take food, petrol and other needed items into Sierra Leone.

May 1999: Personal correspondence

What follows is an e-mail that I received today from Dan Smith. I think it
may be of interest to you and those who view your page. Dan has no problem
with its distribution.

Scott,

I got a call from Santigie at 6 a.m. Sunday morning. He had arrived several
days before after walking via bush paths to Freetown from Gbanti-Kamaranka.
His wife, Willimatu, who cooked for me for three and a half years, was in
Makeni in December when the rebels raided. He hasn't seen her nor some of
his children since, though he has heard news that she is alive and what general
area she fled to. Santigie himself was in Freetown when the rebels invaded
Makeni in December. Fearing for his family, he traveled to Kamaranka,
and shortly after he arrived there (to find his wife had fled elsewhere)
the rebels invaded Freetown. He has been in and around Sanda since
January. He said that since ECOMOG drove the rebels from Freetown the Kamaranka-Kamakwie area
has been their main base. He said there are thousands of rebels in the area,
with a few hundred living in and around Kamaranka. He said they have
stopped killing, mutilating, and raping, but still take all of the villagers'
food and belongings. The people in Kamaranka, Kamakwie, etc.
are virtual hostages. He said there are no health services, no transportation,
little or no commerce, and no food for sale. The level of hunger, he said,
is terrible. The rebels force local people to labor, including to make "natai",
the brown oil made from the inside of the palm nut (it was awful to eat,
did you ever get food that used it instead of palm oil?), which they use
to fuel their vehicles because there is no petrol.

Santigie was able to tell me that Sillah, my chief, and many other people
I asked about were alive, but suffering badly. He also told me about a few
people who have joined the rebels, though there was no one I knew well, except
one guy I used to play tennis with in Makeni who came from Kamaranka,
named Benson Sesay. The stories were bleak, and Santigie did not have any
of his usual cheer. He was going to set out that evening to look for a son,
Alhaji, who, Santigie was told, was in the Lumley area, and then send the
son to Wala (and island, I think) where Willimatu apparently fled when Makeni
was attacked. He said he will ask the son to ask her to come to Freetown.

Santigie is using part of the money I sent him to take a six-month maritime
course to train him to work on a ship — in hopes he can get out of Sierra
Leone. I will call him again in a month or so for an update.

Dan

October 1999: Northern town reportedly burnt and looted

There have been unconfirmed reports that a village near Kamakwie, some
50 km north of Makeni, was burnt and looted on Tuesday by armed elements,
a humanitarian source in Freetown told IRIN. The source said the looting may
have been connected to the fact that rice is being harvested in the area.

The Sierra Leone Human Rights Committee (SLHRC), a consortium of local and
international human rights organisations, said in its most recent bulletin
- issued on 27 September - that there were "frequent reports" that
food distributed in the Makeni area was being taken from civilians by fighters.

"The 'food tax' is reported to still operate in areas under control of
RUF/AFRC," SLHRC said.

October 2000: RUF opens arms depot in Kamakwe

In spite of the numerous assurances given by the newly appointed Revolutionary
United Front (RUF) leader "General" Issa Sesay that his movement
is committed to lasting peace in the country, Standard Times has learnt that
the RUF is on a massive arms build-up and has opened an ammunition depot at Kamakwie in
the Northern province.

Residents from Kamakwie who passed through Tonko Limba chiefdom
to Freetown revealed explained that the task to stockpile arms in Kamakwie was
delegated to the RUF northern axis commander, Col. Komba Gundama by the incarcerated
RUF leader Foday Sankoh since May this year. Col. Komba Gbundama was instrumental
in capturing over 500 UNAMSIL peacekeepers in the Makeni area, riding them
of their weapons.

Apart from the arms depot which the RUF has opened in Kamakwie, reports
say the town is now the launching pad for dissident Guinean forces who are
involved in cross border raids in Pamlap, Farmoreah, Dakagbe and Madina
Wula.

This press has also gathered that a good number of the items looted from the
above towns were sold openly in Kamakwie by cronies of the Guinean dissident
fighters who have flocked to Kamakwie because of its remote location.

Weapons seized from UNAMSIL and those brought into Sierra Leone via Liberia
have now found their way into Kamakwie which a defence ministry source
has described as the second largest arsenal of the RUF.

The arms buildup by the RUF was recently corroborated by a member of the UN
Security Council who observed that the will on the part of the RUF is a tactical
pause.

February 2001: Guinean forces kill, wound civilians in Sierra Leone

Human Rights Watch has spoken with witnesses and victims from twelve attacks,
all within areas under the control of rebels from the Revolutionary United
Front (RUF). The attacks, which took place in the Kambia, Bombali and Koinadugu
districts of the country, also caused serious destruction of property and resulted
in the displacement of thousands of civilians. These attacks, five by helicopter
gunship and seven using artillery, took place in and around the towns of Rokupr,
Yeliboya, Makasa, Kakuna, Sabuya, Mambolo, Rokel and Kamakwie. In the
most recent incidents, on February 15, four civilians all from the same extended
family were killed when an artillery shell crashed into the village of Sabuya,
in Northern Kambia district. On the same day, artillery shells killed a three-year-old
girl in Rokel village, also in Kambia district. The most serious attacks involved
the use of helicopter gunships including the November 30, 2000 attack on the
town of Rokupr, which killed thirteen civilians, and the January 26 attack
against the town of Kamakwie which killed twelve.

Sorrie, a twenty-five-year-old student saw the bodies of 12 people killed
when on January 26 the town of Kamakwie was attacked by two Guinean helicopter
gunships. He confirmed the presence of significant numbers of RUF rebels but
said their headquarters was untouched and none of them were injured in the
attack.

I was sitting on the verandah when we heard what we thought was the sound
of a load car backfiring. Then we realized it was the chopper and just then
saw two of them heading for town from the West. I ran in and hid under the
bed and then heard three loud explosions — everything shook. I was only
thinking of my life. After it was over I went around town to see what had happened.
The first one fell directly on a house in Section #2; it killed two women and
wounded three more. The second one hit near the sacred bush — a place
just behind town where we perform our rituals. I stood there while the others
dragged l0 bodies out. They were all cut up and many had burned when the
bush caught fire. Two more bombs lay unexploded near the Kamasury and Kamayasi
streams.
One rebel wanted to shoot at it but then another yelled at him and grabbed
his gun away. The RUF HQ is in a two story building in area #3 which was
about 150 meters away from where the closest bomb dropped.

May 2001: RUF trade arms for drugs

The barter system of trading RUF weapons for drugs such as (cannabis sativa)
in the RUF controlled town of Kamakwie in the Bombalie district
has become a source of great revenue for RUF commandos coming from Tongo and
Kono. The trade if not checked by UNAMSIL will not only pose a serious threat
to disarmament process but will also undermine the gains UNAMSIL have made
in recent times to push the peace process forward. The trade, which was conducted
almost on a weekly basis, saw the exchanging of RUF guns from Tongo and Kono
in return for kilograms of cannabis sativa.

Prominent among the weapons used in the trade are single barrel guns captured
from the Bombali district Civil Defence Force (CDF) militia group that
sundered to the RUF in Makeni in 1999. According to self styled Maj. Abu "for
every single barrel I take to Kamakwie I get not less than 50 kilograms
of cannabis sativa which the DDR cannot pay me.

Kamakwie town under the control of the RUF is widely known to have
large number of cannabis sativa firms and extensive areas of cannabis sativa
plantation in and around the town. Cannabis sativa is also the drug the RUF
commanders force rebel child soldiers to smoke as a moral booster in any attack.
It is therefore openly smoked in almost all RUF controlled towns.

October 2001: Disarmament begins in Kamakwie, Bombali District

The Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL),
Lt. Gen. Daniel Opande, yesterday witnessed the disarmament of Revolutionary
United Front (RUF) combatants in Kamakwie, Bombali District, as the
exercise concludes in the district.

More than 100 RUF combatants handed over their weapons to UNAMSIL peacekeepers.
The weapons included hand-grenades, mortar bombs, rocket-propelled grenades,
anti-aircraft, AK-47s, machine-guns and multi-barrel grenade launchers. Kamakwie is
the last chiefdom to disarm in Bombali District.

Addressing a gathering at the Kamakwie helipad, Lt. Gen. Opande urged
the local community to support the disarmament of RUF combatants in the area.
He also reminded them that he had fulfilled his promise to deploy UNAMSIL peacekeepers
so they could provide security during and after the exercise.

In his address, the Paramount Chief expressed concerns over the poor condition
of the roads and bridges linking the area to Makeni and other districts. The
Force Commander also met with the former RUF 5th Brigade Commander of Kambia,
Col. Bai Bureh, who together with UNAMSIL's military observers, assisted in
organizing the combatants. He later presented consignments of rice, drugs and
other non-food items to the people of Kamakwie on behalf of Sector 1
peacekeepers.